pointless

I went for another of my pointless wanders of old railway stations / yards today. This time I went to find the remains of the vast Fazakerley sidings yard that closed back in 1987.

Here's a 1977 pic of a Wigan-Liverpool Exchange train passing the foot crossing at Fazakerley.

And here's the same view today. Bit different isn't it?

I found very, very little to say there was once an engine yard / goods depot here, and we're only talking just over 20 years ago. The masses of railway sidings were dug up, and replaced by a "country park" of sorts.

Fazakerley sidings are very "blink and you'll miss it", unlike my mapping of the approaches to Exchange, of which a fair amount of evidence is still there to prove its' existence. British Rail really did a hatchet job on Fazak.

knackered

I took our Jay out yesterday because he's on half-term like just about every kid in the country.

We took the footy down to Sefton Park, then Calderstones Park (where the below photo was taken) and rather than take him for his regular meal at McDonalds, we came back to the flat for some ham butties...well, he ate them, I didn't!

I've been to McDonalds a couple of times this year and have had the misfortune to try some of their food. It's shit.

Me and Jayne went to one next to Walton prison last weekend. I think I'd prefer the prison food to be honest. The meal was just full of sugar. I'd bought one of these veggie wraps and the chilli sauce was like treacle. Not nice.

Anyway, after dinner with Jay, I took him on the beach near me. It was very, very windy and the tide was right in. See the sand blowing up the beach?

I think he was nice and knackered after all that exercise? Recommended for boisterous six-year olds!

Scouse

Recently, it's been reported that in an attempt to save money, three London councils have bandied together to provide certain services. So bearing this in mind, it's not inconceivable that the below image might never happen.......

I'd love to know where the actual cut-off point between being in Liverpool and not being in Liverpool is? It doesn't stop at the council boundary that's for sure.

Yet the area of Greater Liverpool is governed by three separate local councils - Liverpool, Sefton and Knowsley.

Sefton is a pain of a borough geographically. Because the Southport end of the boundary has never, ever reconciled itself with the "Scouse" end of the boundary. Yet councillors in both areas vote on each other's services and it's caused no end of friction for 35 years.

So the possibility of Crosby / Bootle / Aintree / Maghull joining an enlarged city council area isn't impossible. In fact, in time, I think it's inevitable?

sprog

It's the half-term break, and as well as Jayne and the kids being off, so have I.

In readiness for future times, I've spent the week at Jayne's as a precursor to hopefully moving in sometime in the near future. It's just a gentle toe-in-the-water to see how things go, and it's been good.

We've had no money to speak of and the weather's been very erratic, so the four of us have been mooching around the house. A lot of times this would be a recipe for arguments and bad feelings, but I think we've looked upon this as an opportunity. Because if we all get along like a house on fire when we're cooped up, then we can hopefully get along at any time.

But we did need some kind of day out, and Jayne suggested a trip to Church Farm, which is in Thurstatson, over on the Wirral peninsula. The publicity proclaimed, "fun for all the family" and "stroke a guinea pig". It cost £10 for a family of four, and we were in and out of the place in about 40 minutes. But I took loads of photos.......

Ducks having a bath.

Goats. One is ready to drop its' sprog any day soon.

This guy was having so much fun he nailed himself to a fence.

The "Nightmare Circus". It was shut. Health and Safety.....

Another lost soul.......

Them highland cattle from Croxteth Park get EVERYWHERE!

A sheep.

Geese. Waiting with baited breath for the Christmas table.

Aaron and "Plonker" the pony.

"Derek" the donkey.

"Lazarus" the baby llama.

"Horatio" the hen.

"Parthenon" the pig.

Jayne and Bethany degunge themselves after touching me.

Church Farm was a complete waste of time. I'm sure the best of intentions was meant when advertising the venture. But no bugger was there, everything was shut, and what was going on cost a fortune.

Jayne immediately apologised for her serious short-sightedness at the futility of the trip by buying us all dinner. Yum!!!

digital

About 18 months ago I picked up one of these after-market digital TV receivers.

The timing was perfect because I'd just cancelled my Virgin Media TV contract, yet the wiring was still running through my flat. With the aid of the above box and a simple PC program, I was able to access all of Virgin Media's channels - very illegally and for absolutely nothing.

It was brilliant. All the live footy - free. All the new films - free. All the crap porn - free.

However, Virgin have encoded their network with new software, all the channels are barred, and the telly box is now pretty much useless.

But, boy, has it paid itself off? I think it was £120 new, but the full Virgin package is about £70 a month, so figure it out for yourself.

Anyway, can't complain. Back to Freeview.......

Croxteth

I'm catching up on putting my pictures on my laptop, so last week's trip to Croxteth Park is a little late but worth posting about.

There's so much bad publicity about the word "Croxteth". Sure, it's become synonymous with gang culture but the actual Croxteth Hall and Park are nowhere near the trouble black-spots.

I started my trip there by getting the number 12 bus out to West Derby Village. And it's a village in the truest sense. Just look at the above pic.

The main drive through the estate is so long and straight that it probably passes an international time zone.

And looking back toward West Derby Village.

Are these Highland Yak, or just hairy cows......

Very tame sheep. As long as they think there's food in it for them.

What a gorgeous garden path!

To my delight there was a Walled Garden. That was Walled off from public view.

Croxteth Hall itself.

A lake. With a mini-fountain that was randomly spurting water out. At ducks.

The Iron Bridge. And, believe it or not, that's the River Alt below.

These old nuclear bunkers are a dead giveaway aren't they?

A squirrel. Near the nuclear bunker. Perhaps he/she knows something the rest of us don't?

There's one of these ropewalks adventure playgrounds at Croxteth Hall. It was shut, but the sun was still out.

More water.

If you look carefully there's a 7 1/2" miniature railway track underneath the dead leaves.

And a bridge that's closed off at night to keep the hoodies out. In fact, the whole park's cordoned off to local youth thankfully.

I loved Croxteth Park. I went here with Bethany the other Friday so she could play on swings and stuff, and I promised myself then I'd have to come back for a proper gander. I always thought that it was just the south end of my city that had all the greenery and water features. Now there's somewhere in the east. Just a shame the supposed "posh" north end is so much like a failed housing estate experiment - Crosby.

flummoxed

For anyone over thirty, you might have grown up using one of these......

But I was still flummoxed when both Bethany (aged 10) and Aaron (aged 13) told me that they'd never witnessed an old vinyl record being played on a record player.

So I showed them, and neither were that impressed.

I suppose I shouldn't be too crestfallen. Technology is advancing at an alarming rate. Part of me is just a Luddite when it comes to a recorded music experience.

Don't get me wrong - I've embraced the digital format for all it's worth. But there's still something earthy and REAL about playing the old vinyl. My Beatles collection is proof of that.

splurged

I meant to write about this a few weeks ago, but there was another horrific accident on the main Liverpool to Southport road where somebody died.

As the main A565 road comes out from Crosby, the speed limit on the single carriageway increases to 50mph (it was 60mph but yes, you've guessed it - a car accident with fatalities meant a speed decrease) through Ince Woods, before the road becomes dual carriageway at the national speed limit of 70mph.

About a mile further on a minor road from Hightown joins the main carriageway from the left towards Southport. This is where the latest death occurred. 86-year old man in brand-new Honda Jazz pulls onto the "motorway" and is hit by an oncoming car. Result is old man is instantly killed.

I'm not trying to demean his poor bloke's passing, but if you're familiar with this particular junction, you won't be surprised at another death at this dangerous hot-spot. and it's likely you've had / or have seen a near miss here. I know I have.

The thing about the "Formby By-Pass" (as it's locally known) is it brings out the worst in drivers, sorry to say me included sometimes. Because when you've been driving the 8 miles from Liverpool all the way through Bootle, Waterloo, Crosby and Thornton encountering traffic lights after traffic lights and all manner of queues, it's a relief to put your foot down for a change.

Unfortunately, it can sometimes have devastating consequences.

There's little point reducing the speed limit because I doubt anyone would take much notice. And a 40 or 50 mph limit would do little to stop another mad accident occurring at this spot.

Traffic lights? Not feasible. The flow of traffic would be severely disrupted. And for a few cars every hour wanting to use the junction, it's just not fair to everybody else.

The best way to deal with this problem is to block the junction off completely, and divert all the traffic from Hightown through the main junction at Ince Blundell. It's best to be safe than splurged.....

soup

Me and Aaron went to see Bowling For Soup at the O2 Academy in town last night.

The O2 Academy is next door to the Lord Nelson Hotel on Hotham Street, across the road from Lime Street Station. Back in 1968, after a Who/Small Faces show (what a gig to be at!!!) at the Liverpool Empire, a young Keith Moon found, to his eccentric pride and joy, a drinker at the Lord Nelson Hotel who could both smoke and play a harmonica at the same time. Thankfully Moon didn't smash up the hotel on that occasion.

Anyway, I digress. Bowling For Soup are a much-touted Pop Punk fourpiece from Texas. Aaron absolutely loves them.

I found the band tiresome, unoriginal, generic and totally without any respect for this city. I mean - we gave the world the Beatles, and this is a by-product......

Understandably, the kids lapped it up. Maybe one day they'll wake up and smell the coffee......

stinks

I'm sure this pair of clowns had plenty to laugh about after the biggest slashing on public spending in over 70 years.

The thing is, the Tories (ably assisted by the parasitic Nick Clegg) would gone to the cleaners on State funding even if this country had the strongest economy in the world. This "comprehensive spending review" had bog-all to do with the previous Labour administration - though the Conservatives have been at pains to put the blame on them at every opportunity. If Labour overspent, it was for the good of the country during the "world financial crisis".

Cutting public spending is Conservative ideology - remember that!

What Labour did wrong was bailing the banks out wholesale, rather than shoring up peoples' mortgages and savings on an individual basis. By leaving the banks on a sound monetary footing, the Government gave them permission to carry on fiddling hard-working peoples' livelihoods. Nothing changed. The banks were still deregulated - accountable to no one but themselves. Even those institutions taken into State ownership, their "bosses" roundly slapped each other on the back and gave themselves another huge cash bonus - all at the taxpayers' expense.

It all stinks. The answer to this mess is to abolish money - at least in the form we currently know it. Then everyone would be on an equal footing. The problem then would be keeping it that way. And I haven't a solution to that.....yet!!!

royalties

As everyone and his/her dog knows, I'm a Beatles fan. In fact, if it was warranted, I'd probably easily pass a Masters degree in Beatleology. It's that simple. For me. So. I. Say.

So I'm more than a little annoyed that the band have decided re-release FOR A THIRD TIME the "1962-1966" / "1967-1970" compilation albums.

The music on these albums is timeless, I can't complain about that at all. But these collections were originally released on superior vinyl back in 1973. Then they were "digitally-remastered" for CD release in 1993. And now, 17 years later, they've been "digitally-remastered" again to further the Beatles already huge bank balance.

In fairness to the Fabs, there is some method to their madness in that by 2012 the fifty-year restriction on their UK copyrights becomes redundant, meaning that both the songs "Love Me Do" and "PS I Love You" come under public domain which will deny the band their songwriting royalties. In 2013 this ruling extends to "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand". And so on......

I do take Paul McCartney's point in that he wrote "Yesterday" completely on his own and yet is pissed off he only receives 15% of the songwriting royalty payment on it - so it's unfair in that respect. The contracts the Beatles signed in the early 1960s are still in force today.

So expect more Beatles activity in the next year. I know Paul, Ringo, Yoko and Olivia have to save a little for their pensions but this is ridiculous......

insulting

Getting beat in the Derby isn't the end of the world. Neither is sitting second-bottom in the League. But the shoddy manner in which we conceded defeat to the Shite is not only two pickles short of a jar, but an affray to the integrity of Liverpool Football Club.

Everton well deserved their win. 2-0 flatters us.

Hodgson must go. There's no other way around it. It's nothing personal. He's achieved success elsewhere, and fair play to him for that. But he won't do anything meaningful here.

His assertion that this was the best Liverpool have played this season was downright insulting. If, by letting the opposition beat the crap out of us for 75 minutes, that is his road to good results then may God help us. My club must've been bad bastards in previous lives to get to this awful level.

Neither am I being personal to Lucas Levia, but he pretty much sums up everything that is bad about us at the moment. No fight, no skill, no heart, no soul, no desire. Similar mentions for the equally inept Paul Konchesky and clueless Joe Cole.

In a way, I'm glad this kind of result happened with both John Henry and Tom Werner looking on because it shows them the job they've taken on. I bet they kind of wish they'd kept their £300 million after watching this bollocks at close quarters?

Our next game is against Blackburn and I'm of the belief we'll go into this match with the same lacklustre and lackadaisical attitude that's been so prevalent in recent games. I'm also of the mind that both Christian Poulson and Lucas Levia will both start in central midfield, rather than the much more potent Steven Gerrard and Raul Morelies.

And, for shit's sake, give the isolated and crestfallen Fernando Torres some attacking support. Neither the headless chicken antics of both Babel or N'Gog, but a proper run-out for the hugely-talented Danny Pacheco.

Put Martin Kelly at right-back, and switch Carra over to the left in the absence of Agger and Aurelio. Glen Johnson is a liability at the moment.

I don't care if we lose every game forever from now on, but as long as they play for the shirt and show some gumption I can't complain. But we don't want to see many photographs like the one below too often from now on do we?